A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one company from others in the market.

A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one company or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others. It guarantees the genuineness of the product or service and gives its holder the legal rights to avoid their trademark’s unauthorized use.

It helps to discourage other people from using the trademark unlawfully.

Trademarks allow your business to effectively utilize the social media and make your customers find you easily.

If anyone uses your registered trademark, he/she will be presumed to be a willful infringer, and registering a trademark confers the ability to recover monetary damages as a result of the infringement.

If you don’t register your trademark and someone else registers a trademark very similar to yours, you’ll have to change its name and spend a lot of money changing advertising. It’s also possible that you lose customers.

With a single contact point, we make your IP procedures as simple as possible in 19 jurisdictions. While most firms are experts in their particular countries, we have expertise in the whole region.

By adapting to new technologies, we innovate in the practice of intellectual property law. We utilize online software to manage cases and we are constantly introducing new features to simplify the process.

With attorneys in more than 19 Latin American jurisdictions and a US-based office, we are uniquely positioned for providing a regional and comprehensive perspective for your business.

In general, throughout the region, we can identify six stagesthat may change depending on the country. These stages are:

Filing: The information is completed and the documents are filed.First Examination: The documents are examined in order to make sure they comply with all the application requirements.Publication: The trademark application is published so that interested third parties can file oppositions.Substantive examination: The Trademark Office of the corresponding country verifies if the trademark meets the legal requirements to be registered.Final Decisions: If the trademark meets the legal requirements, the Office proceeds to register it.Issuing of the certificate: The certificate is a document issued by the Trademark Office that records the trademark registration.

Registration: When a trademark application meets all the requirements, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) registers it.

Office action: If the information is inaccurate or important documents are missing, the PTO makes a request for information that has to be responded.

Opposition: If the application complies with all formal requirements, the PTO makes it public, so that third parties who believe the new trademark violates any of their rights can file an opposition. The applicant must respond proving that the opposition had no basis, and the registration process must continue.

Refusal: The Trademark Office issues a resolution explaining the legal reasons why the registration of the trademark registration was denied.

Reconsideration and appeal: The Trademark Office may grant or deny registration of a new trademark. In either case, the dissatisfied party can file a reconsideration or an appeal in order to change the PTO decision. There will be no certainty of trademark registration if there are pending appeals.